What is a personal computer ? And use of personal computer

What is a personal computer ?
A personal computer is a genral purpose computer which is designed for personal uses . It's size , capabilities and low cost make it useful for individual . A personal computer may be a desktop , a laptop , a tablet or palmtop . It is based on microprocessor technology . Software application for personal computer include word proccessin , accountings , spreadsheet , database , web browser and email , games and special purpose software . Modern personal computer . Often have high speed or dail up connection to the Internet , allowing access to the Internet and a wide range of other resources . A PC may be used at home or may be found in an office . Personal computer can be connected to a LAN ( local area network ) either by a cable or wireless .

Devlopment of personal computer
Personal computer were made possible by two technical innovation in the field of microelectronics viz. the intefinteg service which is devloped in 1959 and the microprocessor , which first appeared in 1971 . The IC permitted the miniaturization of computer memory circuits and the microprocessor reduced the size of computer CPU to the size of a single silicone chip . The first complete personal computer was the commodores PET introduce in January 1977 . It was soon followed by the popular Apple 2 . In 1981 , IBM PC was the most popular personal computer .

Parts of a personal computer

A personal computer is not a single part called the " computer " . A computer is a system that has many parts working together and each parts has a special function .System unit : the system unit is the main parts of computer system . It is a rectangular box placed on or under your desk that house the important parts of the computer system . It includes the motherboard , microprocessor , main memory , bus and ports , but does not include the keyboard , monitor , or any peripherals device .

System unit for personal computer

Inside this box are the microprocessor , disc drive and other elements that work together to do the actual computing. The most important of these components is the central process unit or microprocessor , which act the " brain " of computer . Another components is Random access memory { RAM } which temporarily stores information that the CPU uses while the computer is on . The information stored in RAM is erased when the computer is turned off . All these functions are control by the software which make it possible for us to use computer . Almost every other parts of computer such as keyboard , monitor , mouse and printer connevted to the system unit cable . The cable plug in specific ports . Typically on the back of system unit . Hardware is the not is part of the system unit is sometimes called a peripheral device .

There are two type of system unit A desktop type system unit : the desktop system unit is a square box shaped structure which can lie flat on the desk or table and the moniter is usually placed on the system unit .

B Tower type system unit = this is another type of system unit . This type of system unit is vertical placed on the side of the monitor . The tower model are mostly used at home and office .

Main parts of system unit :

CPU : cpu is the most important parts of a computer ,where actually proccess take place . It is the brain behind all personal computer . It also reffered to as a processor or microprocessor .Following are the various types of CPU

Motherboard : the motherboard is a flat circuit board on which fiber like structure of metal connecting pin are mounted . These pin connected components to each other through which data , instructions and information are transferred . These fiber like structure of metal or electronic path are called bus . The motherboard is the main circuit board of a computer on which a proccesss , video card , sound card , , IDE hard , IDE hard drive , etc are all plugged into the various slots and connection . The CPU is plugged into the motherboard through a socket or a slot . On most computer , it is possible to add memory chips. To Add additional core features, we may need to replace the motherboard entirely .

RAM : this is where our computer keep the information it is the using moment. RAM stands for a memory. And information is kept here only as long as it needed by the application running on the computer .

ROM : it is silicone on motherboard on which instructions are burned at the time of manufacturer . When computer is switch on instructions stored is automatically initiarini and after switching it of instructions do not get lost .

Video card : a video card is also called video adapter , graphic card , the function is to generate an output image to display .

Sounds card : this card enable us to pay sounds and music . The sound card converted the digital information into electrical signal .

Power Supply : a power supply unit is the components that supplies power to other components in a computer . A power supply unit is typically designed to convert AC form the mains to DC power for the different components of the computer . Most components of the computer . Most component require 5 volt while the floppy and hard disk require about 12 volt .

Internal speaker : it is speaker on the computer motherboard that is responsible for beeps , beeping noise and other tones . This speaker is very basic and is not a speaker for playing songs , music , or other complex sound generated in a game .

Timer : it is internal clock on the motherboard which is battery operated .

Personal computer Timer image

Expansion slot. : It is a long narrow connectors Which allow us to plug in expansion card like the sound card , network card etc . The primary purpose of an expansion card is is to provide or expand on features different accessories . They are given below .

1 power socket

2 keyboard port

3 Serial port

4 Moniter port

5 parallel port

6 audio jack

7 network port

8 USB

9 SCSI ( small computer system interface) port

Hard disk : it is a hardware device which stores all programme and data in the computer . So it's reffeer to as the memory bank of computer turned off . Larger the hard disk capacity , more amount of the program and data that can be stored in it . In nearly all case , it is permanently installed in the system unit and stored both the software the computer uses and the data file the user create .

CD drive : cd drive is a device that enables us to read and stored the information on CD disk . It is usually located on the front of the system unit . CD drive use laser to read data from A CD .Floppy disk drive : floppy disk drive is a device that enable us to read and store the information on floppy disk , also called floppy or diskette . They also retrieve information more slowly and are the more prone to damage .

Monitor : is the part of computer that look like a small TV and shows you what is going on . Usually it has two cords , one for power and the other for the connecting system unit . It displays text character and graphics in grey shed or in colors .

Mouse : it is an input device and it used to point and select item on your computer screen . By sliding the mouse around on a flat surface ( usually on mouse pad ) the user moves ( a single or double click ) to select the item . A single cord connection the mouse to system unit .

Mouse image for personal computer

Keyboard = it is a typewriter which contains keys to feed information into the the computer . It is attached to the system unit with a cord . The standard and IBM keyboard have 83 keys but enhanced keyboard has 104 keys.

Speaker = it is an output device . When the speaker is connected to the sound card , the output as a sound can be heard on the speaker . Often it is used for entertainment .

Printer : it is an output device that produce print of image such as number , alphabet , graphs etc. On paper or hard copy which is called printout .

Scanner : it is an inputs device that transferred typed or handwriting texts , graphs , diagram , and photograph to the computer in digital form .

CD ROM Drive : CD ROM drive is a device that read the information stored on CD ROM. CD ROM is an abbreviated terms for Compact Disk Read Only Memory . The information stored in CD ROM can neither be changed nor can new information be added to it .

Modem : it is short form of modulator - demodulator . To connect our computer to the Internet , we need a modem . A modem is a device that sends and receive information over a telephone line or high speed cable .